This invention relates generally to providing information to a user who accesses a document at a site on a computer network like the Internet or an intranet and, in particular, to automatically providing selected or customized information to the user.
The Internet is a well known, global network of cooperatively interconnected computer networks. The world wide web portion of the Internet is a collection of server computers (referred to as xe2x80x9csitesxe2x80x9d) on the Internet which store HTML documents that can be publicly accessed by computer users having a connection to the Internet. There are many such world wide web sites on the Internet.
Software, generally known as xe2x80x9cInternet browsers,xe2x80x9d is now in wide-spread use for retrieving (also known as xe2x80x9cdownloadingxe2x80x9d) from the world-wide web and viewing electronic documents in hyper-text markup language (HTML) format. Originally, these HTML documents were simply ASCII coded character files generally consisting of text and HTML xe2x80x9ctagsxe2x80x9d that specify formatting of the document, links (referred to as xe2x80x9chyper-linksxe2x80x9d) to related documents on the network, and other files that contain information (e.g., sound, images, video, etc.) to be combined into the document. Typical HTML documents found on the world wide web, sometimes referred to as web pages, include both text and tags specifying files for images that are to be displayed with the text. In use, browser software allows a user to navigate (also known as xe2x80x9cbrowsexe2x80x9d) between documents and sites on the world-wide web.
Conventional HTML documents found on the world wide web are static in that the document is simply transferred to each user who navigates to the document. Although the document may include images or other media formats, the HTML document transferred to each user is the same. The strength of such a document format is that it includes links to other documents or sites by which the user can navigate to a desired document or site.
A common type of document on the world-wide web is the top-level or trunk document for a particular site, often referred to as its home page. A home page typically provides a user who accesses it with general information about the provider of the network site and organizational information about, and access to, lower levels the network site. Another common type of document provides users with a convenient gateway to the world wide web. These types of documents commonly provide access to network search tools or services, news or other current event highlights, links to other sites of interest, etc. Such a network gateway type document may be a home page or a lower-level document for a particular network site.
It is a shortcoming of conventional HTML documents that all users who access a document receive the same information and links. In the context of a home page or a network gateway document, the static nature of HTML documents requires that only generalized information and links are included in the document so that it appeals to the widest base of users. Excessive information and links in the document would cause it to be too large to be practicable for most users. For users accessing the world-wide web over conventional xe2x80x9cPOTSxe2x80x9d telephone connections and modems, excessively large HTML documents can require more time for transmission than many users are willing to accept.
To overcome these shortcomings of conventional HTML documents, an HTML document customization method obtains and stores for a user customizing information for a customizable HTML document on a computer network like the Internet or an Intranet. The customizable HTML document may be a top-level, trunk, or home page for a network site or a world-wide web gateway, or could be of any level at the network site and provide virtually any functionality of an HTML document.
One aspect of the method occurs when a user navigates to the network address (e.g., Uniform Resource Locator) associated with the customizable HTML document and is offered the ability to customize the HTML document. The user might not have been to the network address before, or not elected to customize the HTML document during a previous access of it, or will elect to revise customization options selected for the HTML document during a previous access of it. The server returns an HTML customization document to the user. In one embodiment, the HTML customization document is an HTML form that includes topical groupings of customization options relating to, for example, favorite links, news, sports, financial matters, entertainment, science and technology, life, weather, etc. that a user selects with graphical check boxes, buttons, etc. The customization options may relate to links to sites that provide information on indirect links to the selected topics. In addition, the HTML customization document can allow the user to designate specific network addresses or URLs to be included on the customized HTML document. The user returns the selected customization options to the server as customization information.
The customization information is stored at the server with reference to user identifying information that uniquely identifies the user, and the server returns the user identifying information to the user (i.e., the browser on the user computer or client). In one embodiment, the user identifying information is customization persistent client state information, sometimes referred to as a xe2x80x9ccookie.xe2x80x9d The customization persistent client state information is or includes, for example, 128-bit globally unique identifiers (xe2x80x9cGUIDxe2x80x9d) that are capable of uniquely identifying each and every user.
Whenever the user navigates back to the network address associated with the customizable HTML document, the browser on the user client passes the customization persistent client state information or xe2x80x9ccookiexe2x80x9d back to the server. The server correlates the customization persistent client state information with the customization options stored at server and returns to the user client a customized HTML document formed in accordance with the customized options stored at server. The customized HTML document may include information on the selected topics, obtained from other sites, for example, or direct links to the other sites that have the information.
This HTML or network document customization is capable or providing each user who accesses a network address with an HTML document that is matched to that user""s preferences. This customization adds to the strength of linked information provided by HTML documents by providing each user with the information, or links to information, that the user actually wants. Customization of HTML documents is particularly beneficial for home pages, network gateway pages, or any other pages that potentially provide direct access to a wide variety of links or information.